Wheel of Fortune
by tequini
Summary: Lucky is Kaito's middle name. But when it comes to warding off Aoko's suitors, luck is a little more elusive. – KaitoAoko.


**Wheel of Fortune**

One of Kaito's favorite past times other than performing magic tricks and being a generally amazing and talented phantom thief, was telling Aoko how underdeveloped her body was. It wasn't as if Aoko actually looked like a pre-pubescent girl. It was just insanely funny to watch her face glow with embarrassment. So obviously, it shouldn't have been a surprise when one day, he comes into class to see a group of nosy girls huddling around their shared desk, whispering excitedly amongst each other. While Kaito doesn't particularly concern himself with whatever gossip girls talk about, since it seemed to involve Aoko, his best friend, he's pretty sure he's entitled to know what's happening.

Kaito drops his backpack on his desk, and coughs, to announce his entrance. "What are you girls talking about? Has Aoko finally grown a butt?"

He elicited a wide range of facial expressions, some were giggling and others were looking at him in disgust. Aoko's eyebrows were creased in frustration, clearly not happy to see or hear him.

"Aoko got a love letter today!" Kasumi excitedly exclaims.

Suddenly, Kaito realizes what kind of nightmares he was most afraid of. He immediately glares at Aoko, as if accusing her of committing some criminal offense, and Aoko replies with an increasingly annoyed expression, It's not my fault! This continued for a few more seconds as Kaito tries to prompt Aoko to tell him it wasn't true. It proved to be futile and after their mental charade was over, Kaito turns back to Kasumi, still clearly not wanting to believe her.

"That can't be true."

"It is! Look." Kasumi hands him the white thing, which Kaito immediately grabs. Oh god it smells like Old Spice. Who is this dimwit trying to impress? Kaito rapidly scans the letter for telltale signs of being from Saguru and is a little relieved when he comes across a poorly constructed sentence which Saguru would have chosen to die than make. But still… _When you look at me, the world stops spinning_ …? Does this blockhead honestly think he's dazzling Aoko with that kind of junk? Aoko doesn't need some stranger from—Kaito squints—3-C to tell her how pretty she is. Besides, isn't it kind of creepy to realize someone watches you every lunch time at the cafeteria? All of this makes Kaito want to puke. He wouldn't mind puking at this piece of paper, then throwing it out, and forgetting all about it altogether, if it weren't for the fact that Aoko had just angrily grabbed the paper from his hands.

"Is the guy serious?" Kaito sneers, clearly not intending to mean what he seemed like he meant. But Aoko was far too worked up from all that was happening to even bother to translate his insults.

"Go away, Bakaito!"

* * *

"Looks like someone got evicted from his own seat. How sad."

There was a nefarious cackle beside him, and he didn't have to look to realize it came from Koizumi Akako. She looks surprisingly ecstatic today, even though Kaito's mood had already soured so early in the morning. "How could you be so happy when all this is happening?" Kaito narrows his eyes at her.

"Why wouldn't I be happy when my competition is being eliminated?" Akako winks which sends a chilling shiver down Kaito's spine.

"Can I just clarify that there was _never_ any competition in the first place?" Kaito replies.

"Ill-mannered, as usual." Comes another voice from behind. Hakuba Saguru is leaning on Akako's desk, looking smugly at Kaito as if he had been preparing all night to bust some accurate deduction about today's happenings. Kaito doesn't want to listen, but that never stopped Saguru from opening his mouth in the past anyway. "Your poor romancing skills are the reason why Aoko-san gets love letters like those."

"Yeah, yeah I get it." Kaito grits his teeth, getting increasingly irritated.

"Would you like me to tell you a bit more about the sorry state of your love affair, Kuroba-kun?" Akako says with a hint of pity in her voice.

"Not real—"

Akako slides a tarot card from under her desk, and Kaito wonders how long she spent reading his fortune this morning. "This is the Wheel of Fortune Reversed. Currently, luck is not on your side due to the multiplicity of poor decisions you have made in the past." At the corner of his eye, Kaito sees Saguru nodding his head knowingly. "If you wish to reverse your luck, you must take the initiative to correct your mistakes."

Kaito makes a grab for the card and holds it out in front of him as if it were the reason for this whole mess. "What does a stupid card know about me anyway?"

* * *

"S-so, do you like him?" Kaito stutters to Aoko's freshly polished dining table. Aoko was by the stove, busy stirring fried rice for dinner that night.

"Sorry, _who_?"

"The guy from 3-C?"

"Oh, the one who sent the letter?" Aoko turns toward Kaito with a look of surprise, as if she wasn't expecting him to care about what she received that morning. "Are you actually interested?" There was a hint of amusement and disbelief in her voice, which transformed into a bullet that sliced through his pride.

"Why would I interested in your love life?" Kaito is quick to defend himself, but he immediately catches his mistake. It was too late.

Aoko snorts. "Okay." She turns back to the stove, and hums a song as the rice sizzles with her every stir. Kaito slumps on the dinner table with furrowed brows, already exhausted from that exchange. If he hadn't opened his mouth so quick she would have answered his question.

* * *

For some reason, it takes Kaito an entire two weeks to actually put a face to the guy from 3-C. The flurry of gossip surrounding Aoko and her secret admirer has already died down by then and all the girls returned back to their normal routine. Aoko seems to have forgotten entirely about all the commotion—that, or she just refuses to talk to Kaito about that stupid guy from 3-C. It wasn't as if Kaito cares all that much, to be really honest. It wasn't that hard to glue his eyes to the blackboard whenever Keiko calls Aoko out to the hallway because the guy dropped by to give her cream puffs. Aoko doesn't even like cream puffs that much because she had choked on one when she was ten. Doesn't that guy know anything? Much to Kaito's disbelief, this has been the new normal. On the bright side, it is much easier to investigate now that everybody else has moved on.

"Sorry I took so long!" Aoko is jogging toward him, face red and hair sticking to her face. Kaito hands her his handkerchief to use, chiding her about running too fast.

"Where have you been?" Kaito squints at Aoko. He pushes himself off the lamp post he'd been leaning on for the past hour and flexes his arm which probably grew several muscles from the number of times he raised it to check the time.

"Guess who I bumped into!" Before Kaito could pray to the gods that it wouldn't be the person he thought it would be, someone arrives from behind Aoko. It's 3-C guy, and shoot this is also the guy who volunteers at the library who'd scolded him a few times for snoring so loudly. He probably had a pretty bad first impression of Kaito, but that doesn't stop Kaito from standing up straight, forcing himself to look taller even though they were the same height.

"Nice to meet you, Kuroba-kun." The guy says politely, "I hope you haven't been waiting long."

Kaito scowls inwardly. This guy makes it seem like he'd been out with Aoko all afternoon even though they just bumped into each other. He better know his place. But it was uncool to be bothered by the guy's statement so Kaito needs to appear calm, cool and collected. He was thankful he wore his black cap and leather jacket since it adds to his desired image of being the guy who doesn't really care at all who Aoko spends her afternoons with.

"It's a'ight. I had company." He waves coolly to two girls who asked him for directions just a few minutes ago. Aoko doesn't look too happy about it, but what's important is that the guy understands that Kaito is more popular with the ladies.

"Would you guys mind if I accompanied you both to the coffee shop?" The guy is unfazed. "I'd hate to see my juniors walking around without company."

He played the seniority card! What a coward, honestly. Kaito clicks his tongue because he can't disrespect seniors especially when Aoko was around. No matter. The guy was probably intimidated by the way Kaito had been giving him the dirty eye since they made eye contact.

"Sure!" Aoko replies before grabbing Kaito painfully by the elbow and pulling him aside. "What are you doing, Bakaito?" Aoko whispers, and Kaito could feel her growing irritation from the way she was gripping tightly at his arm, "You're being embarrassing! Stop that!"

"I'm showing this numbskull who's boss, obviously."

"I don't need _you_ to do that!"

"Aoko. Can you just. _Just_ – okay?"

It was an awkward two-minute walk, and it was only after the guy left that Kaito un-flexes all the muscles in his body, and sinks tiredly to the seat beside Saguru who had been sipping tea with Akako. It was really exhausting to assert his dominance, but if it meant protecting Aoko from vultures like the guy from 3-C who would only tear her apart at the slightest chance, Kaito would make the ultimate sacrifice.

"So this was the disturbance I sensed this morning." Akako takes a sip from her cup of tea, her gaze had been following the guy as he left.

"By the way, impressive robot walk, Kuroba. I was completely blown away." Saguru says to Kaito who was now frowning at him in disbelief.

Kaito clicks his tongue, mood already sour. "Can we just go and buy the stupid dango flour already?"

"Don't worry, Kuroba-kun. Aoko might have a kink for older men—" Kaito feels his frown deepen "—but to me, you're still the most pleasing to the senses." Akako winks at him, as if reading his mind that his ego needed some bloating.

"On the contrary, I believe that the trait of handsomeness is earned. That is, whoever makes Aoko-san happy is most deserving of that title." Saguru quips intelligently, as if he contributed some helpful insight.

* * *

It was sports day and Kaito's class was resting at their area by the field. Aoko had won track and field, and was jogging triumphantly toward Kaito who handed her a bottle of water. Her face was as red as a tomato and her ponytail was messed up from the run but she never looked happier. He would give up a limb so she could look as fresh as this everyday.

"Great work, Aoko-san. You looked like a true athlete out there." Saguru says admiringly from under the beach umbrella he stuck into the soil earlier.

"I expected no less from my rival." Akako adds with a proud smile, as she fans herself with a red hand fan.

"Thanks guys. I had so much fun." Aoko laughs before dropping to the tuft of grass beside Kaito. She stretches her arms and gives a contented sigh.

"Thanks Kaito for letting me chase you every day so I could practice for _and_ win track and field at sport's day." Kaito grins at the girl lying beside him and pokes at her side, watching her squirm, "So in reality, it's my victory."

Aoko, in response, digs her hand on his side where it both tickles and _really_ hurts, but she was laughing too hard to be legitimately irritated. She rolls away from him when his hand makes its retaliation. Honestly, if his day ended like that, it would have been The Day of all days, and he could have died peacefully right there. But no.

"Aoko-chan." The guy from 3-C suddenly appears before them. It was a waste of brain cells to remember his name. "Wanna grab some sandwiches?" He thumbs to a stall which was a lot further away to make Aoko comfortably within Kaito's earshot.

"Sure, I'm really hungry." Aoko, who was far too friendly ( _and_ far too much of a greedy eater, if he may add) for her own good, pushes herself off the grass and soon, Kaito is watching the two of them jog away to the colorful food stalls. His eyes are squinted trying as hardest as his hearing abilities can to overhear just what that guy said to make Aoko laugh.

"I did tell you geminis would be today's hapless victims." Akako tells Saguru with a tone of amusement in her voice but Kaito was too busy scolding himself for not bringing an entire basket of sandwiches with him to school that day.

* * *

"Why aren't you telling me anything?" Kaito blurts out without thinking. Spontaneity and thoughtlessness are a magician's greatest enemy, and right now, he was fighting a losing battle. The longer this chase goes, the less he thinks about whether what he'll say next would make him sound like an idiot.

Aoko gives him a face, "What are you talking about?"

"A-about…You know…the thing." He prays that their friendship was solid enough for Aoko to read his mind so he wouldn't actually have to say he was talking about the guy from 3-C.

She doesn't let him down. "You mean, my boyfriend?"

"Yeah, your—" Kaito's eyeballs pop out of their sockets, question marks written all over his face, " _B-boyfriend_? What the—what? Since when—"

"Relax. I was just joking! Honestly, you look like you're choking on a whale."

"You're very charming with words." He narrows his eyes at her, but otherwise relieved.

"You're talking about Wakada-senpai, right?" So that's the guy's name. He didn't bother catching it the first time the guy mentioned it. It's an ugly name, and Wakada Aoko sounds even uglier. Kuroba Aoko, on the other hand…

"Earth to Kaito?" Aoko snaps him out of his thoughts, "You've been acting weird lately. I mean, you're always weird—" Kaito frowns, "—but lately, it's getting a bit concerning. Are you okay?"

It was a sincere question, and anybody in the world could have heard the tone of her voice sticky with worry and concern. It's this kind of special attention from her that Kaito sometimes feels he doesn't deserve. She was far too nice, and took too much notice about the little things that bothered him. She's been like this since they were little, hardly changing now that they were teenagers with different sets of friends.

"You're such a worry wart, you know that? That's why you have a lot of wrinkles." Kaito takes off his cap and plants it on her head. Aoko's shoulders jolt with the sudden contact.

"He asked me out for a movie." She informs him quietly. "What should I do?"

He feels a sharp pang in his chest. He anticipated this, definitely, but he didn't anticipate just how much those words would sting when he finally hears them coming from her. She was looking at him now, not in the mood for any of his jokes. He wasn't in the mood to joke either. Jokes got her laughing, though they never got her to feel pretty, to feel like she was cared for, to feel his gratitude for having her as his best friend all these years. But jokes have always been what he was good at. When it came to feelings and Aoko, he is an elephant trying to unicycle. He will never be able to get it right.

For some reason, Akako's voice rings in his head— _if you want to reverse your luck, you must take the initiative to correct your mistakes_. He has been failing at combating his miserable luck the past few weeks, and this was probably his last chance to do something the right way for once.

His reply is waiting in the roof of his mouth: ditch him and go out with me instead, ditch him and go out with me instead. He is practicing it over and over, imprinting it in the back of his mind like a personal creed. But when he opens his mouth this rolls out of his tongue:

"Just be yourself."

What is he saying?

"If he doesn't like it, it's his loss."

Is he listening to himself?

"You're a great girl. You deserve someone who'll like you for who you are."

The street lamp above them suddenly flickers. Aoko stops in her tracks, looking taken aback. Kaito was also shaken by what he just said. Nevertheless, the words were out there in the air like an embarrassing picture from grade school. Kaito feels his face heat up, instantly regretting what he just blurted out.

"You really think so?" Aoko says watching him with careful eyes.

He coughs for a moment, "O-of course. He should know how to appreciate the way you shout when you're angry, right? I mean, 'cause you're always angry. So might as well… Right?"

She gives him a look of both confusion and irritation. She must have later realized how stupid he sounded because she breaks into laughter and was now clutching at his arm to steady herself. She wipes her tears away. "Thank you for that worldly insight, Mr. Love Guru. You know, you should really start a column in the school paper giving love advice to those love led astray."

"I take back everything I said. You're a horrible girl." He flicks her softly on the shoulder, and watches her yelp in surprise. "So when's the thing?"

Kaito resumes walking. He might be in the losing end of the battle with that blockhead now, but that doesn't mean he isn't putting up a fight.

"Friday night 6pm. We meet by the clock tower."

Well, shit. He's got a heist planned at 6pm on Friday night.

* * *

Aoko texts him at precisely 5:35 in the afternoon.

 _I'm at the park. A little bored. Someone just tripped in front of me. It was kinda funny so I laughed but I felt bad after._

Aoko was a natural blabbermouth, but when she was nervous she talked endlessly. Right now she was probably looking for someone to talk to to ward off all the nervousness. But Kaito was in the middle of rechecking all his traps and tricks, he couldn't possibly have time to reply, even if he wanted to. Man, of all days that date could fall—it fell on a heist day. Akako's nefarious laughter is echoing inside his earlobes.

Maybe it was true, maybe he did have the worst luck in the world. Maybe this was the last chance he has to turn the tables in his favor. Maybe Aoko was sitting there waiting for him to come take her away. But then again, maybe Aoko was there waiting to meet the man of her dreams. Wakada-senpai probably doesn't flip her skirt, or embarrass her in public, or make fun of her figure. Maybe he's actually a nice guy who'll respect her and be courageous enough to tell her how pretty she is every day.

Kaito buries himself in his palms, trying to no avail to keep himself from recounting every magic trick he'd ever pulled on her in the last how many years of their friendship.

* * *

8:15 and his show was almost ending. Inspector Nakamori was yelling his lungs out for Kid to get down from the water tank. Kid was ready to make his escape. Everything was set in place: the inflatable dummy he programmed to fly opposite the direction of his escape, his retractable rollerblades to speed him to a storage room he stashed his street clothes in, the activated GPS pinned to his dress shirt which sent coordinates of his location to Jii who was waiting by the parking lot. His escape was planned to the tee.

"Huh? What do you mean there is a fire at the Plaza?!" For the first time in his life, Kid is thankful that Inspector Nakamori's yelling was loud enough for him to hear.

His mind is quick. He produces his phone from his pocket and rapidly scrolls through the 12 unread messages Aoko had sent him that night.

 _8:05. stopped by at the Plaza. The s'mores here are surprisingly good. I ate like 5._

Kid felt his soul separate from his body. There was a millisecond moment of hesitation, enough time for him to reaffirm what is a no brainer. Then he springs off the tank to the sound of the police sirens, leaves the inflatable dummy, the storage room, and Jii, now speeding away from the parking lot. One prayer plays in his mind like a broken record.

* * *

When he gets there, the flames have already eaten up half the building. He steadies himself on a tree branch, ignoring the beads of sweat sticking to the inner silk fabric of his uncomfortable white suit. His eyes are scanning the evacuees—what did she say she was wearing again today? He recalls telling her to wear jeans and a shirt so the guy wouldn't be too impressed. He hears a pile of bricks crumble from the outer walls of the Plaza. Fuck, he was running out of time.

"There's still somebody inside! There's still somebody inside!" Someone is shouting. A familiar voice. His eyes trace the source of the voice and is beyond crestfallen to see it's the guy from 3-C. Why the fuck wasn't Aoko with him?

Kid has no more time to scan the crowd. His brain is telling him this is a shot in the dark, but every nerve in his body says that for Aoko, every wild guess is worth more than the most expensive jewelry. So he rips his cape and plunges into the window, feeling the sharp edges of the broken glass rip through his blue dress shirt and dig lightly over his skin.

* * *

Someday, when he dies, in his gravestone the words _Death by Nakamori Aoko_ will be engraved for everyone to see. His luck always chooses the most extreme times to make itself known. Why is it that the only time he gets lucky with her is when her life is in danger and by some stroke of good fortune, he arrives at the nick of time, possessing the correct amount of strength enough to haul her away from danger? Whatever the reason, his bones melt with relief when he finds her—after an excruciating, mind-numbing excursion under the sweltering heat of the flames, yelling her name over and over—by the comfort rooms, heaving the silver handle of the wooden door open. There was a large piece of broken cement that blocked the door, preventing it from being fully opened.

"Aoko!" Kid takes her by the shoulders and spins her around so he could examine her for blood or other injuries. She looks at him with a panicked expression, and maybe for that moment it doesn't matter to either of them who she thinks she sees in his eyes. The flames are eating up the snake plants that lined the hallways, and his heart and brain have made a deafening chorus inside his body, you need to get her out, you need to get her out.

"T-there's a little kid. He's stuck inside. It's too heavy, I can't open it." Aoko murmurs in between breaths, as she leans hesitantly against his shoulder. She looks noticeably pale despite the fact that her face was glowing from the orange hues of the rising flames. How long has she been here? Why wasn't there anybody else inside? Jesus, he has no time to think about these things. Okay, he has to focus. Aoko was clutching at his arm, and for some reason it calms the blood boiling under his skin. Kid turns to the sound of the little boy crying inside, and prays that his luck rallies by his side today.

Everything that happened after was a blur. Soon, the little boy was tucked in Aoko's arms, Kid's suit jacket was draped over her shoulders (didn't he tell her not to wear anything sleeveless?), his arm locked tightly around her waist, pressing her close to him, as they ran toward the sound of the fire alarms and police sirens.

* * *

"Brave." Kaito bows his head dramatically. They were at a chicken joint after he accompanied her to the hospital to get her checked up. It took a bit of effort and some lying to separate Aoko from the little boy who correctly believed—much to Aoko's irritation and slight embarrassment—that Kid was her boyfriend. Well, it was partly correct, in a sad, one-sided way. "You deserve a Nobel Award. Maybe even two Nobel Awards for surviving what I would assume was an awful date that mother nature felt the need to end with a timely disaster. You even got to be held in the arms of your hero and boyfriend, Kaitou Kid. What a lucky girl."

Aoko gives him a look of disgust. "You never run out of things to mock me with." She was clearly tired of all the jokes about Kid she'd received from different people since the night of the fire. But as far as Kaito was concerned, he had hit a goldmine. This joke will never die. Besides, it made him giddy inside to see her squirm in embarrassment whenever she was teased.

"It's in my job description. You should've read it when you accepted me as your friend." Kaito snorts, taking a piece of her favorite fried pork chop and dropping it smugly inside his open mouth.

"I was too busy regretting being nice to you." She sticks her tongue out at him, "Besides, whether that fire happened or not, I still would've rejected Wakada-senpai."

"Why? He seems like the guy who wouldn't mind listening to your loud yelling all day. Those are the real keepers, you know." Kaito smoothly suppresses the yelp in his tongue after her foot jabs painfully against his shin.

"I already said no in the beginning. But he looked like he wouldn't leave me alone."

"He dodged a bullet that's for sure." He quickly ducks as Aoko whips her fist at his direction.

"Whatever. He was kinda boring anyway." Aoko leans over to steal the crispy chicken skin Kaito had been looking forward to eating all morning. Before he could steal it back, she shoves it in her mouth, wagging her eyebrows victoriously.

"Huh," Kaito deposits his chopsticks on his plate and rests his cheek on his hand, not at all hungry anymore, "So are the boys in top hats and white suits who brave the raging fires to rescue damsels in distress and the little kids they are saving your kind of exciting?"

He was surprised how much his hands started sweating as he fidgeted around restlessly with his white handkerchief. His heart was throbbing rapidly in his earlobes, and under his red flannel shirt shaking his entire body like tiny earthquakes, drowning away the rush of the lunch hour. And when he thinks it can't get worse, he sees her face blossom with poorly-hidden embarrassment, and God, his stomach is doing multiple somersaults. The thunderstorm raging outside sounded like a happy medley in his ears. How does he manage to jump off a building of seventy something floors every other night when he can't even keep himself from being completely on edge from the the words that will come out of this girl's mouth?

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Aoko smiles brightly, cheeks still puffed out from the chicken skin she was eating. "It's a secret."

Screw fortune telling. Kaito was the luckiest guy on earth.

* * *

 **A/N** : this is my first mk fic! i suck at writing action, i'm so sorry haha. i hope you all got the luck thing going on in this fic, since i'm not sure i wrote it properly.


End file.
